Focus on Answering the Question That’s Asked

I find a lot of my clients initially think that they can somehow get away with deflecting a question by not answering it directly. That doesn’t work. Remember, the interviewer often has their list of questions in front of them. They won’t forget exactly what they’ve asked. It’s right there. And, if they are HR or executive search specialists, they are trained listeners. Don’t kid yourself. They’ll know if you don’t answer the question. They’ll either repeat the question or dig into your response to find out what you are trying to hide. Yes, they know you are trying to hide something. So, answer questions directly. Don’t side-step them, thinking it will work. It won’t. If you know there’s a challenging question that you don’t want the interviewer to ask, figure out an appropriate response before the interview or get professional advice. The best strategy is to prepare a short, direct answer for challenging questions.